Invesco May Sell $18B Wealth Business

(Reuters) - Invesco Ltd is trying to sell its $18 billion wealth management business, according to five sources.

The Atlanta-based asset management company wants to sell Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management, which has $18 billion in assets under management, because it is not core to its business, three of the sources said.

An Invesco spokesman declined to comment.

Atlantic Trust has 11 offices across the U.S. and serves clients with at least $5 million in assets. With its nationwide presence and strong brand name, it could be an attractive acquisition, said Jim Campbell, director at Riotto-Jones & Company LLC, a family office consulting firm, and who is also one of the sources.

"They are one of a handful of family offices that are truly national," he said.

Atlantic Trust was the most well-known brand among 35 private wealth management firms, according to the 2011 Luxury Brand Institute Survey of high net-worth individuals.

"Years ago fund companies wanted to be all things to all people," he said.

Now firms are more wary of being perceived as pushing their own products, Bobroff said.

Invesco wants to sell the business on its own and has not retained a banker, the sources said. "The logical buyers would be Atlantic Trust's competitors," Bobroff said. "But no one is in the market to do that size of a transaction."